‘Stop treating a lack of experience as a lack of ability’: Ramaphosa’s youth unemployment plea

President Cyril Ramaphosa has made a direct appeal to the South African business community to fundamentally change their recruitment habits, urging employers to stop treating a lack of work experience as a lack of capability.

Speaking in Johannesburg on Thursday at the SA National Leadership Convening on Youth Employment, the President stressed that the country must break the cycle where young people cannot get a job because they lack experience, and cannot gain experience because they are denied jobs.

Let us stop treating a lack of experience as a lack of ability.

Addressing delegates, the President framed youth unemployment as an existential human and social crisis that strikes at the core of South Africa’s future stability. He noted that while government programmes have been introduced to help young people acquire skills, the scale of the current crisis proves that traditional methods are falling short.

We cannot solve the challenge of youth unemployment simply by doing more of what we have always done. We must be prepared to do things differently.

Ramaphosa called for a collective willingness to dismantle institutional barriers and challenge established corporate practices. He urged industry associations to work with employers, including smaller businesses, to expand workplace learning and entry-level recruitment, emphasizing that the objective must be to create pathways into sustainable livelihoods rather than just temporary placements.

The President also highlighted the need to look beyond paper certificates and recognize the potential, aptitude, and determination of young South Africans. He encouraged young jobseekers to utilize platforms like the SA Youth mobi-site to connect with opportunities, while reiterating that the government’s role is to create an enabling environment for the private sector to invest and open their doors to new talent.